The invention provides an improved printer having a housing containing a printer mechanism which preferably has a thermal printhead and a platen is carried on a floating mount, which may be provided in a cover of the housing and enclosing a compartment containing a roll of paper which extends over the printhead and is maintained in driving relationship with the platen roller and in contact with the print elements of the head when the cover is moved to a closed position. Springs are mounted in the printing mechanism and allowed to flex. These springs are interactive with the platen roller so as to permit the platen roller to move into engagement with the printhead and, when in engagement, to bias and latch the platen roller against the printhead while aligning the platen roller with the printhead. In addition, a gear on the platen roller engages gears in a gear train driven by a motor and aligns itself with these gears to transfer power to the platen roller for driving the paper during printing operations. The housing has facilities for receiving and reading from and encoding on a data card (a magnetic and/or smart card, having an IC chip). The printer may be miniaturized for portable operation when carried by a user who can enter information via the card for printing, together with other information which may be entered from a terminal connected to the printer or from a remote host computer via wire line, infrared or radio link. Data may be encoded on the card by recording thereon data entered via a terminal, a keyboard on the printer housing, or transmitted from the host. The card so encoded may be used for gaining access to a facility or for operating various devices requiring external data to be operated, as for example in a hotel for room access (a card key) or in a casino for operating gambling machines, or as a debit card. The encrypted data on the card may be passed directly by to the terminal or host computer without printer processing.
It is a feature of the invention to provide an improved printer which is combined in the same unit with a magnetic card or smart card reader and encoder or both such card readers and encoders, other I/O device in a unitary structure adapted for personal use.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide an improved miniaturized, hand holdable printer having a printing mechanism, associated in the same unit with a magnetic card and/or smart card.